Sherri Donaldson

Technical Coordinator (Honorary)

Sherri Donaldson has an extensive career in training, technical writing and IT consultancy. She has delivered to clients throughout the UK, Europe and Africa, working in high risk onshore and offshore environments managing, designing and delivering IT training projects, technical and procedural writing, and information and knowledge management. She is skilled at working with large datasets, and is process focussed with a meticulous eye for detail.

In 2020, Sherri completed a 4 year BSc (Honours) in Geology as a mature student, including over 100 days of geological fieldwork. She has worked for several years at the National Museums of Scotland as a palaeobiology curatorial volunteer, focusing on the historic Hugh Miller Collection; is a member of palaeontology-focused professional groups, and attends international palaeontological conferences.

Scotland-based but Australian-born, Sherri first visited Lightning Ridge in 2016 for the Lightning Ridge Fossil Dig and was astounded by the variety and beauty of the region’s fossil heritage. In 2018, halfway through her BSc studies, she returned to assist with an AOC fossil collection audit, leaving Lightning Ridge as an AOC Life Member and vowing to help wherever possible. In 2020, she contributed to the User Requirements Group for the new AOC building and began reviewing collections management software for the AOC. In 2021, she has spent 4 months in Lightning Ridge working as an AOC volunteer and consultant while embarking on Masters Studies at the University of Edinburgh, doing research on fossil molluscs in the AOC collection.

Sherri also works with the University of Aberdeen as a student support assistant, and in the university’s geological teaching collections.